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Strategic Projects
The ‘back’ side of the Vinh market, an economic hotspot in the city’s urban economy, is proposed to have a completely new function and appearance. A large public platform would mediate the land-to-water threshold and provide facilities for informal market activity and a water-based public transport system. The strategic project of the Lam Riverfront also reinforces the river city vision. The two sides of the river are developed as a spatial entity with new programmes (ranging from a river harbor expansion to a congress center, hotels, business / commercial developments and a high-standard tourist area with a small marina). In the east-west direction (parallel to the riverfront), an alteration of built (buildings raised on pilotis) and unbuilt spaces could allow for the sunken land to act as a reserve basin for seasonal fl ooding and otherwise act as a recreational strip behind the mixed use development.
Green City
Green City - to build upon Vinh’s inherent ‘green’ image and develop a system of low-land/ high-land that allows the city to operate as a sponge – managing seasonal fl ooding. In Vinh’s center, the green city vision is developed to create a series of interlocking public parks. The western city edge is defi ned as a productive/protective park by a forest that shields the city from the ‘Laos wind’.
River City
River City - to contribute economically, socially and environmentally to future growth; waterbased transport as well as new sites for development and recreation can be feasibly organized on both the
Vinh and Lam Rivers.
Vinh
The twin cities Vinh Doanh and Ben Thuy — later agglomerated and named Vinh — were founded on the left bank of the Lam River in the flatland of the Cua Hoi estuary (where the river reaches the South China Sea), adjacent to the ancient ‘Mandarin Way’ and only ten kilometres from the sea. The province is in a geographic area that has inclement conditions for agriculture and is constantly threatened by severe weather and prone to flooding. Vinh’s rich, yet tragic urban history, the result of a stratified development process, has been a pawn in real and ideological warfare. Yet, it has, time and time again, regenerated itself.
VINH: Rising from the Ashes (1997-04)
Location: Vinh, Vietnam
Designers: Kelly Shannon, André Loeckx, Han Verschure
+ Municipality of Vinh
+ UN Habitat
Period of design: 1999-2004
VIETNAM
Challenges Facing the City of Vinh
The Vietnamese city of Vinh has had neither the fortune of an overwhelmingly beautiful natural setting nor a glorious urban patrimony. It is one of the poorest cities in Vietnam and has suffered a devastating urban history (destroyed repeatedly in the First and Second Indochina Wars), has poor soil quality (thus limiting agricultural productivity), an inclement climate (with a dry hot wind from Laos) and has had little outside investment.
Yet, the city’s population is growing at an alarming rate (of more than two percent per annum) and the indiscriminate filling of lowlands and sprawling urbanity requires strategic thinking that goes beyond the country’s traditional land-use planning mechanisms.
Environmental Degradation and Water Management Issues
At the same time, the shift from a water-based civilization to a road-based one has seen the waterways turned into open sewers of domestic and industrial waste. The vision of Vinh as a river city was expanded to embody an ecological component whereby the city could function as a sponge (a permeable land mass able to absorb and shed excess water) – to deal with the increasing severity and frequency of flooding – and strengthen the vision of a green city, with interconnected public open spaces.
This approach aimed to address the pressing challenges of water pollution, frequent flooding, and the loss of natural waterways.
Vinh City Structures and City of Mobility
To re-assert the city’s strategic location; rail, road, water-based transport and the existing airport can work as an integrated infrastructure network and strengthen Vinh’s nodal position.
Strategic Project for the Lam Riverfront
Two strategic projects were developed to make the vision more tangible. The first was for the riverfront of the Lam River which has developed slowly and unsystematically. The project foresaw the riverfront as a new facade of the city, instead of a back, with public spaces and a diversity of programs (from north to south, intended programs could include a river harbor expansion, a congress centre and hotels, business and commercial development and a high-standard tourist area with a small marina).
In the east-west direction, parallel to the riverfront, an alternation of built (buildings raised on pilotis) and unbuilt spaces could allow for the sunken land to act as a reserve basin for seasonal flooding and otherwise act as a recreational strip behind the mixed-use development.
Reorganizing Vinh’s Central Market and Waterway Integration
A second project, the reorganization of the city’s central market, not only tried to change the perception and use of the area’s buildings and open spaces but also that of the Vinh River. The back of the market (site of illegal solid waste disposal) was proposed to be turned into a front, cleaning and articulating the river’s edge as a place for informal trading and a stop for a new water-based transport network.
This reorganization aimed to revitalize the river's role in the city’s transport and economic activities, transforming polluted and neglected areas into vibrant public spaces.